“American Idol” Has Its Top 24

It’s always one of the mostÂ compelling episodes of the season. And also one of the most excruciating.

A bunch of young hopefuls sit for hours in a holding room. And then, one by one (sometimes two by two), they take that scary elevator ride up to see the judges, who often mess with their heads and milk the moment for every drop of tension before telling them whether they’ve made it into the weekly competition portion of “American Idol.”Â

It’sÂ crunch time for the judges, too. If they miscast the Top 24, as many believe they did last season, you riskÂ plunging the viewersÂ into a black hole of boredom, and/or having another Sanjaya Malakar debacle on your hands. Â This is where the second-guessing begins.

Along those lines, surely a lot of eyebrows were raised when 18-year-old Josiah LemingÂ of Tennessee was rejected. The confident and charmingÂ Leming hadÂ seemed to be a favorite until his shaky rendition of “Stand By Me” and he left amid a flood of tears.

How cruel the fates can be on “Idol,” especially when the judgesÂ struggle toÂ reach consensus as they did a few times this year. The most glaring example came when Kyle Ensley and Colton Berry entered the room with one spot remaining. Colton got the nod, but Simon made it known that he wanted the baby-faced Ensley.

â€œI want you to know from me, wholeheartedly, that I completely andÂ utterly disagree with this decision,â€Â he told Kyle. â€œI think you would have had something people would have enjoyed, and Iâ€™m really disappointed.â€

SimonÂ was also against keeping David Hernandez.Â â€œI wasnâ€™t the one who said ‘yes’ â€¦ and I think youâ€™re going to have to work an awful lot harder to have even the remotest chance of winning,â€ he told the contestant.

One of the most emotional segments of the night came whenÂ Carly Smithson, whose Season 5 dreams were derailed by visa problems, entered the roomÂ a picture of anxiety.Â And she was tearing up long before Paula gave her the good news. Clearly, the camera loves this woman and I think she has a chance to be a voter favorite, but you have to wonder if she can keep her nerves under control during the competition.